Advice on Advice: Take It or Leave It
There’s a tonne of advice out there for juniors wanting to break into the industry — books, blogs, and people wanting to give you their two cents. But advice comes from experience, and experiences are personal. Which means there’s a lot of conflicting advice out there. In a regular column (Monday and Thursday) Lauren Ami MacDonald tries to make sense of it all.
When you’re at the bottom of the food chain, what’s more important: establishing your place or knowing your place? Realistically, as a junior, you are for the most part, faking it. You’re learning. And when someone pulls you up on something, chances are you’re wrong. But what if you’re not? I don’t think about picking one or the other so much as it is about reading the room. What does the person (or people) have to lose if you speak your mind? Sometimes it’s just about picking the right forum to voice your opinion. When the egos are gone, what’s left is the Work. Talking to people one on one, instead of in front of a group will always give you a better chance of being heard. And if you are wrong, it’ll also place you in safer space to be cut down to size. I think what it boils down to is giving people the respect you’d want extended to you – criticism without a show.
5 Comments
I am liking all the topics you’ve brought up, as a junior I can definitely relate to all of it. I guess sometimes juniors should listen more than they talk, but being quiet will not get you anywhere. I believe juniors should be open to making mistakes, have an opinion and be confident about it.
You’ve read the ‘expert’ opinion above, now here is the truth from the trenches if you care.
As a junior, nobody gives a damn about what you think. Ever. And rightly so.
You do the best advertising of your life when you have lived it for a while. When you understand people and what pushes their buttons. As a twenty something, you don’t even know yourself, so having a deep understanding of consumer behaviour is a long way off.
Whether you contradict your seniors in public (a huge no-no) or try to do it in private, they will carry a huge grudge. And this will be a lifelong thing. Even if you apologise later.
Of course you might be the glorious exception to all of this, but there’s only one way to find out.
I’m enjoying this too.
The great thing about advice is that everyone gives it but the real talents know how to use or ignore it.
I’d love to know what advice David Droga got when he was starting out and how much of it he took on board or ignored.
Those who play it safe never stand out.
And if you want to stand out, be prepared to get quashed.
Fortune favors the brave.
That’s what Droga used to say.
It’s the blonde leading the blind.